Kid Guitars
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Posts Tagged ‘amateur guitar’
Our son informed us that he recently signed up for guitar lessons being given at school with his best friend. He really seems to want to do this and I guess my husband and I will start to look at beginner guitars that we can afford. This might be easier said than done. We have been shopping and looking online and took our son with us yesterday. He agrees that it would be good to start with a beginner guitar.
Finances are tight right now and we are hoping that our son can contribute to the cost of this amateur guitar. He is willing to do whatever it takes because he really wants to learn guitar with his friend. I think it’s a good chance to show our son that if you really want something in life it’s worth working for!
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As a guitarist at any level one needs to continue to work on their strumming techniques. One key way to improve your strumming is to visualize the rhythm of the playing pattern before you begin. Some people find it helpful to say the rhythm of the pattern out loud. Another good tip is to make sure you don’t pause in between the strumming patterns. Pausing will cause you to lose your place, and can cause some serious rhythm problems and confusion. Practice the exercise alone, and as slowly as possible. You can build your speed up as you get used to the rhythm and the pattern. Your eventual goal should be the strumming pattern down and to play without any pauses.
One tip to improve your strumming, is to improve your posture! Good position is integral to getting the most out of your guitar. Bad posture can not only limit your guitar playing improvement, but you can put yourself in greater risk for straining muscles! Constant bad playing posture can even cause or worsen back pain. It’s best to sit straight up, and cradle the guitar with your legs. Armless chairs are ideal for this sort of playing. As a beginner, it can be a bit boring and tedious when you’re learning. However all great guitar players have to start somewhere, and you might find you learn faster than you think, once you get the basics down you’re well on your way to the good stuff! It’s important to remember that guitar playing, like anything worth doing in life, takes time and above all – patience! One can begin the journey with an amateur guitar and there are many amateur guitars that are affordable and available, so the journey begins with you!
Here we go again. If it’s not one thing it’s another. My son who is so earnest, so sincere and SO convincing says that if we loan him a little extra cash that he is sure he can pay back within six months plus interest he will combine this with his earnings from his job and buy an amateur guitar! I said “What!” Oh how kids can be SO persuasive when they want something bad! I will not even consider such an offer and neither will my husband until we receive some type of collateral, I ain’t playing!
After speaking with my always level headed husband he said “why not, we’ll just make it part of any early birthday gift”. We finally agreed that we would pay for half of the guitar and he would pay the rest. Let’s just say it’s a compromise I reluctantly agreed to. I have never seen my son happier. I think he now has visions of himself with a cool guitar “rockin the house” with a swarm of babes watching his every move. I’m not sure I’m ready for this!
Last month we bought our son a kids electric guitar. He couldn’t be happier than a pig in mud! As I mentioned in an earlier post, all of our children love music and do play instruments, our daughter plays the piano and the flute and our older son plays the drums but now says that he too wants to play guitar but not electric guitar. He wants to play acoustic guitar like his buddy Tad. So I guess now we will go guitar shopping yet again.
I think we will look at some discount acoustic guitars as I saw some online and they seem to be quite affordable and very good quality. Our oldest son has been a really good student and will be graduating high school this year. He will be going off to college next year and we want to reward him. He and Tad hope to go to the same local college and play amateur guitar together in a trio with another friend of their’s. I know this will make our son so happy and he will learn to play guitar quickly as he appears to really have some musical ability. This is really very exciting for the whole family!
The Importance Of Learning Proper Strumming Techniques
Friday, February 26, 2010
posted by SKWiley 2:10 PM
There are many beginner electric guitars available today for the eager musician. However many beginner guitarists are overly enthusiastic and don’t take time to learn proper technique making it harder to correct later on in their career. It is extremely important to acquire good strumming habits. For instance, a lot of beginners will strum every single string of a chord with every stroke. Doing this for an entire song can become quite bland, particularly if the guitar is one of the focal instruments in the song. Quite often many guitarists try to replace the rhythmic ideas with a basic strumming pattern. Even in strumming-oriented songs, the up and down strokes may have nothing to do with rhythm, but merely effect. Being able to switch between up and down strums seamlessly, in rhythm, regardless of the pattern should be a goal to focus on. Using strumming patterns as a substitute for learning proper rhythm is something that can potentially end up becoming a huge problem when songs with more complex or unusual timing comes up.
Learning to control strokes to the point of hitting only a couple of strings each time and swapping between the bass and treble strings can be much more interesting to listen to in many cases. That is not to say hitting every string is bad, but it is something to do sparingly. This creates a dynamic to the song that makes hitting all the strings in the chord a very noticeable thing that draws the listeners attention, rather than base line of the song. Learning to play amateur guitar can be a fun important especially if you learn proper technique from the start.
In the past if you wanted to learn how to play the guitar, you either had to teach yourself utilizing a variety of printed manuals or schedule an appointment with a guitar instructor. Many people often have a hard time being able to successfully schedule lessons with a guitar instructor, or be able to afford the ongoing tuition fees. Today, online guitar lessons have become the preferable option for a lot of people who simply don’t have the time or money for a one-on-one guitar teacher as well as for those who are simply not able to learn just by using a guitar instruction book. You can replay certain lessons over and over again until you have mastered the skills that are being taught.
Learning to play guitar online or through the use of a DVD can be a great way to learn to play amateur guitar. There are a lot of different types of amateur guitars that are available to enhance the learning process which are affordable and of good quality. More and more people seem to be choosing to learn to play guitar online. Learning online and/or with a DVD can prove incredibly useful for busy people who sometimes cannot do as much guitar practicing as they would like and who need to review and refresh material before moving on. In short, online guitar lessons have revolutionized the way beginner guitar lessons are taught
What To Consider When Learning to Play Guitar Online
Friday, January 29, 2010
posted by SKWiley 12:03 PM
Learning guitar online is becoming a more and more popular way of studying this beautiful instrument because it’s more comfortable, cheaper, and often just as effective as attending guitar classes. Without a teacher it can be pretty hard sometimes to notice mistakes that you make while practicing. Here are some common mistakes often made when learning to play guitar online:
Not practicing enough
It is tempting to practice less often when you don’t have a teacher standing over you. Your really need to create your own schedule and strictly follow it without skipping your training sessions. Don’t practice for too many hours either in the beginning because if you don’t have enough stamina, you might end up with tendonitis or wrist inflammation.
Trying to play too fast
This is a common mistake that many “young” guitarists make. It’s much more important to play slowly, but perfectly, then hurrying through a song with a lot of mistakes. Practicing on the same bits, you’ll eventually manage to increase your guitar playing speed.
Not practicing what’s hard to play
Most amateur guitar players enjoy a few songs or parts that they play well and they don’t learn to play new songs making it difficult to progress. It’s important to play things beyond your capabilities and make a habit out of it. It is important not to give up. If you’re learning guitar online, you will find plenty of new stuff, just a little over your skills, and important enough to stick with, good luck!
Purchasing your first guitar can be a lot of fun and there are many amateur guitars in which to choose from. When you get your first guitar and take some lessons, the first thing you want to do is learn to play a song or two. You are painfully aware of your status as a beginner guitar player but you want to learn a song or a riff or a tune that sounds really cool. Maybe you’re up to learning your first chord. You are feeling a little bit shaky getting your fingers around the first chord but you are looking forward to introducing it to your second. A beginner guitar tutor always helps but if you are going to make some progress, you will have to start learning some songs.
Guitar songs are songs that highlight the guitar in some way and they are often quite easy to learn. When you start guitar lessons the pressure is on from friends and relatives to “play something” so let’s look at what’s available. One recommendation from an amateur guitar player I heard recently was to buy the Nirvana Unplugged DVD and the tabs for the album. You’ve got your intro to the world of guitar in one package. Psycho Killer by Talking Heads uses the chords Am, G, F and C and the strumming is easy. Finally, let’s depart a little from guitar songs and take in a reminder that power chords consist of just two or three notes that can be played up and down the fretboard. You can play any song using power chords even though it isn’t a permanent solution
I have known many guitar players throughout my life. Many of them were in college and high school. They were the guys who would whip out their guitars when you were all sitting around a campfire and begin impromptu acoustic guitar lessons. It’s hard for me to recall what their names were, but I never forget the music that they played and the good times that were had by everyone.
There is one that I do remember however. I met him during college at a student camping retreat. There we were all sitting around a blazing campfire; drinking beers and talking about what our plans were for the rest of the summer, when this quiet guy I hadn’t noticed took out his guitar and began to play the song “Something in the Way She Moves” by James Taylor. His guitar strap was unlike any one I had seen before. It had drawings and signatures all over it. When he asked me to sign it I was touched. That quiet guitar player has been my husband for 25 years now. There’s something about those guitar players!
I am very excited that the holidays are approaching. My husband and I often perform during the holiday season. He plays organ and acoustic guitar, while I play the flute. We are very excited to have our ten year old son join onstage this year. Last year we bought him an amateur guitar after an exhaustive search for beginner childrens guitars. He has been a voracious learner and is incredibly excited to join his mom and dad on stage this year. He has a wonderful teacher and has gone through every guitar instructional book we have given him!
As parents we couldn’t be more proud! We love music and have been so grateful to be able to bond with our son through our mutual joy! The sound of music is the best Christmas gift imaginable for our family! To you and yours, Merry Christmas!